handpainted and crafted Mommy, Daddy and Baby Shark jack o lanter

Holidays

Baby Shark (and Family) Jack o’ Lantern DIY

I dare you to make these Halloween jack-o’-lanterns without singing the Baby Shark song. We’ve been singing it for days in our house now. You’re welcome.

Baby Shark has been around for a few years but we think it’s time to make a Baby Shark jack o’ lantern! Maybe his parents, too!

Supplies to make Baby Shark and Family Jack O’ Lanterns:

Pumpkins in three size (small for baby, medium for mommy and daddy shark)
painters tape
spray paint in white, yellow, magenta, and blue (always use spraypaint responsibly in a well-ventilated outdoor area.)
cardboard (big enough to use as a mask for your pumpkins –see below)
3 pairs of smooth foam balls (we used the 2.4 inch size for mommy and daddy shark and ping pong balls for baby shark)
ping pong balls (optional)
floral wire (if using ping pong balls) (have a responsible adult handle floral wire and be careful of the sharp ends when inserting into your pumpkin.)
toothpicks
acrylic paint in white, black and red
white craft foam
black construction paper
scissors
paint brush
pumpkin carving tools (use sharp objects responsibly)
skewer

It’s a lot of supplies but well worth the process.

Now let’s get started!

How to make Baby Shark and Family Jack O’ Lanterns:

Step 1: Use the painter’s tape and tape off the bottom half of each pumpkin. You’ll want to arc the tape upwards in the middle where your shark’s face is going to be. This taped portion will be the white underbelly of your sharks. (see above)

Step 2: Next paint your pumpkins outside in a well-ventilated area. Then, carefully remove the painter’s tape once the paint is dry. You’ll see painting an organic object, like a pumpkin, is a little tricky. The paint will want to run down the groves of the pumpkin veins and if you are like us you probably won’t get a nice even edge. (see above) Don’t worry, you are going to paint over that with your white paint. (see below)

Step 3: Take your cardboard piece and cut a half-circle out of one side that will fit over your pumpkins like so. This will create an arc mask for painting the white portion of your pumpkins. This method is also not perfect as the spray paint will mist through the divots in the pumpkin veins but it gets the job done. You could just hand paint the whole pumpkin with a paint brush and acrylic paint but we found that spray paint covered more evenly and was worth the extra effort. You can always touch up later after you’ve carved your jack o’ lanterns. (see above)

Step 4: Next, it’s time to hollow out your pumpkins (the usual way with a hole in the top) and time to carve your shark teeth mouth and holes for eyes. Cut your teeth just below your colored line as you see above. You don’t have to cut eye holes, as you could just poke your foam balls or ping pong balls into the shark pumpkin body but we thought it would be fun if the eyes lit up so we cut holes.

Step 5: To create your eyes, use black paint and create a circle with just a tiny half circle notch not painted on one side. Let those dry.

A handy crafter’s note: washi tape rolls makes for great ball holders while you paint. (see above)

Step 6: Now it’s time to attach your eyeballs to your shark. For the ping pong balls I cut two small notches in the ping ball and inserted a small piece (about 3 inches) of floral wire through the two holes. Then I used that wire to poke into the shark eye holes to secure it. You could just cut a hole that fits the ping pong balls perfectly but that’s tricky and the wire is more secure.

For the foam balls just use a toothpick to secure them. Super easy does it.

Step 7: For Mommy Shark, you can add eyelashes by cutting a strip of jagged black construction paper and gluing the strips to each foam ball. Then bend the eyelashes upwards.

Step 8: Add more details like… lipstick to Mommy Shark and nose holes to all the Shark jack o’ lanterns… A wooden skewer works well to make small holes.

I was going to stop here because they look pretty cute but then wondered if could look even be better with fins! Time to break out the craft foam and spray paint again!

Step 9: Just cut three wedges for each pumpkin and spray paint them the designated colors. Let them dry. (see below)

Step 10: Then carefully stick a broken half of a toothpick (the sharp end into the foam) in each fin. (see above) And then… stick them in your sharks where they go and you have a Family of Sharks Jack o’ Lanterns!